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Thursday, July 14, 2016

Leading UK-based retailer, Next, is set to open an outlet store in Rotherham next month.

Famous for its sales, the retailer sells collections for women, men, children and the home. Outlet stores sell all of the usual Next selection but at clearance prices.

Set to open in August, a Next Outlet will take space at the Boundary Mill store at Catcliffe retail park.

Next trades from more than 500 stores in the UK and Eire and around 200 stores in 40 countries overseas. Next already operates from a unit at Parkgate Shopping and Rotherham is home to the company's massive distribution centre in Manvers where two units at Brookfield's Park total 1.1m sq ft. The closest clearance store is at Heeley Retail Park in Sheffield.

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Boundary Mill Stores is the largest quality mill store of its kind in the UK and the expanding Lancashire-based retailer became the new occupier of the former Big W store at Catcliffe in 2012. The 130,000 sq ft store had been empty since Woolworths went into administration in 2008.

Boundary Mill Stores are owned by Libra Textiles Ltd who trade from five locations with and reported a turnover of £31.8m for the year ending January 2016, with profits of £2.1m. The stores offer branded goods at discount prices. Departments include ladieswear, menswear, homewares, gifts, books, dvds, arts and crafts and perfume and cosmetics.

The company operates a concession partnership where brands reatin ownership of the stock and Boundary Mill Stores allocates space on the basis of prospective or actual sales and receives commission for the provision of the space in the retail environment and sales support services.

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In the year to January 2106, sales for NEXT Retail increased by 1% and for NEXT Directory, the company's online and catalogue business, sales increased by 8%. Total Group sales rose by 3% to £4.1bn.

Next chief executive, Lord Wolfson, stated that this financial year "may well be the toughest we have faced since 2008" with cost pressures and impacts on consumer spending. The company still estimated that it would add around 275,000 sq ft of net trading space in 2016/17 and a further 350,000 sq ft in 2017/18.